Analysis of Constructive Errors in masonry confined in Highly Seismic Countries and Reinforcement of Walls with Galvanized Mesh

Abstract

In countries with high seismicity, such as those located in the Pacific belt of fire, great disasters are generated because many houses are not designed to resist seismic forces; this is because they have been built without any professional technical assistance and using low quality materials that make them more vulnerable to an earthquake. In developing countries such as Peru, the problem is recurrent, because more than 80% of homes are self- built, causing construction errors that lead to 70% of these homes have no guarantees to withstand a major earthquake; the importance of solving this problem lies in the need to identify construction errors to study methods of reinforcement. This work investigates 371 houses of confined masonry, the most used construction system in South America, finding as a result that the most important construction error is the structural use of the tubular brick; in view of this, it is proposed to reinforce the walls with a construction system made up of tubular bricks reinforced with galvanized wire mesh to increase resistance and improve ductility.